By Doc Kennedy

Stop me if you’ve heard this before: Carolina plays a backup quarterback in his first career start and gets burned in a loss.

Or maybe this one: Carolina is in a close game with Clemson before something strange happens and ends up losing to the Tigers.

Or more likely this one: Carolina has a chance to make a statement and take a big step forward but falls flat in disappointing fashion.

On Saturday in Death Valley, it was all three.

North Carolina came out like gangbusters in the first 20 minutes against Clemson, punching the Tigers in the mouth on both sides of the ball and building a 17–3 lead that should have been bigger. But the seemingly hapless Tigers woke up in the final 40 minutes, dominating UNC in a 28–20 comeback win.

Out of the gate, the Tar Heels were moving down the field at will and held the stagnant Clemson offense, behind freshman QB Tait Reynolds in his first career start, to only 29 total yards on their first 20 plays.

But late in the second quarter, fortunes began to change. With a little over five minutes remaining in the half, UNC faced a 4th-and-4 at the Clemson 40. With the Carolina defense having held the Tigers to less than 50 total yards up to that point, Bill Belichick chose to punt and pin Clemson deep rather than go for it and possibly put even more pressure on the home team with a score.

The Tigers responded with an 18-play, 88-yard drive that ended in a field goal. Though the Tar Heels held Clemson to only three points, the momentum had already begun to swing as Reynolds started to find his groove.

The third quarter was all Clemson. After initially trading turnovers, Clemson got a field goal on a short field after the UNC fumble, and then went on a 7-play, 92-yard drive to cut the 17–3 lead to 17-15. After another slumbering, sloppy possession by the offense, the Carolina defense stiffened, forcing a punt, while the offense started moving for the first time since early in the second quarter. The Tar Heels had a first-and-goal with the chance to go up two scores.

After one play, officials called a weather delay because of lightning in the area.

Nearly 2½ hours later, play resumed, but the Tar Heels never seemed to come out of the locker room, looking flat and disinterested, and Clemson scored two touchdowns in the final five minutes to complete the comeback.

Reynolds finished 20-of-29 for 215 yards and a score, adding his name to a long list of debut QBs to stick it to the Heels.

This game will join the likes of the 1987 Clemson game in Chapel Hill where UNC dropped a potential game-winning pass and the phantom offside call in the 2015 ACC championship game in Charlotte in Carolina’s hard-luck history against the Tigers.

And for what seems like the 137th time in recent memory, with all but one of the GameDay panel picking Carolina to win and with talk of GameDay coming to Chapel Hill in two weeks if the Tar Heels prevailed, UNC once more came up short. Time is indeed a flat circle.

With that in mind, here is a disappointing edition of the Good, Bad, and Ugly Report:

Good

Benjamin Hall

Hall had his best game as a Tar Heel, showing why he has remained RB1 with 130 yards on 18 attempts, good for a 7.2 average. The Carolina rushing attack accounted for 214 yards on the day.

Greg Smith

Smith picked off Reynolds and was in on the hit on Jarvis Green to have a hand in both Clemson turnovers, to go along with 7 tackles and a tackle for loss.

Aeron Burrell

While Burrell (closely) missed another field goal from more than 40 yards out, but his punting remains a weapon for UNC. Burrell punted four times for a 47.3 average and put all four kicks inside the 20.

Bad

Billy Edwards Jr.

Edwards had a no good, very bad day after the first two drives. In those two touchdown drives, he was 5-of-8 for 60 yards and a touchdown. The remainder of the game, he was 8-of-22 for 75 yards and an interception. He had happy feet and was mostly inaccurate. Credit to Clemson for rattling him, but he did not look like the same quarterback as he was the first two games.

Disciplined football

Although UNC had only five penalties, two kept a Clemson scoring drive alive, another derailed an offensive possession, and Carolina took a delay of game coming out of a change-of-possession timeout. There were also missed tackles on top of missed tackles, looking much more like last year’s team. Again, this did not look like the team we saw in the first two weeks.

Missed opportunities

Clemson turned the ball over twice, but Carolina could not convert those into points (missed field goal and a fumble). UNC also started three drives in Clemson territory but only scored seven points. Making more of those chances should have been when the Tar Heels put their collective foot on the Tigers’ neck.

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— UNC goes from dominating to collapsing, unable to finish job
— Smith, Hall shine in UNC’s PFF grades, which aren’t kind to Edwards

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Ugly

After the weather delay

There was much discussion online about the decision to suspend the game with eight minutes remaining in the fourth quarter and the Tar Heels driving inside the 10, and how the teams would respond after a 2-hour, 27-minute delay. Carolina came out flat, and Clemson came out energized. Last week’s weather delay for UNC was between quarters and with the reserves getting ready to come in. It was not a cold restart of an offense that had finally found some rhythm, but beyond that was the defense looked entirely discombobulated, surrendering two touchdowns in the final five minutes after only giving up one in the first 55 minutes. One team was ready to play when the game resumed, and one wasn’t. 

Offensive play-calling

Bobby Petrino’s positive impact on the Carolina offense cannot be overstated. The offense has emerged from being stuck in the mud and has generally trended positive. But Petrino was left guessing as the Tigers pressured Edwards and shut down the passing game, and it did not appear any adjustments were made to help him get back in the groove. There were also a number of specific play calls, such as the punt in the second quarter, and the 4th-and-1 pass downfield with Carolina trailing by a point late when the rushing game was averaging almost 6 yards per carry. Putting the game on the shoulders of the erratic Edwards in that moment was certainly a choice.

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Breaking news: Lucy has pulled away the football for the 137th time from the Charlie Brown Carolina football program. It was an absolutely deflating loss, and one that will weigh heavily through the open week as a missed opportunity, because the chance to win at Clemson doesn’t come along often. Next up is top-5 Notre Dame coming to town, with the vibes of a 2–0 start and a 17–3 lead long ago evaporated.

Doc Kennedy is an alum, longtime UNC fan, and former high school and college basketball coach who wrote this report for years on Tar Heel Blog.

Photos by Smith Hardy